Icarus
by ToTheMoonAlice
Summary: The UNSC Prowler Icarus is on routine patrol. When unknown ships appear on their doorstep, its actions would change Humanities place in the galaxy permanently.


_The AI translator has spent over two hours, a very long time in AI existence, translating the alien languages in the official recounting of the events that began in 2606, and has taken pride in his work. However, if any mistakes are found pertaining to languages alien or Human, then he would appreciate that they be reported in order for the report to be as accurate as possible._

_ONI Section II_

_Head of Section II - Brosian Derek_

* * *

**Epsilon Erdi**

**Harvest Orbit**

**UNSC Deus Ex**

The stealth corvette, or Prowler as it was more officially known as, _Deus Ex_ slowly drifted through the remains of Human and Covenant ships in the Harvest system. Captain Nolan Dalton sat in the command chair, watching as the ship slowly navigated its way through the husks of dead ships. _Damn alien bastards._ It had been 81 years since the first battle at Harvest, since those monsters killed us by the billions. Humanity had, before the war, a population of 39 billion, and after it was reduced to 20 billion. By now thought, it had reached 34 billion inhabitants, in the year 2606. Like everybody on his ship, he had never fought in that war, but he was fighting this one.

Though no one considered it a war, it was still an ongoing battle. The Jiralhanae, Kig Yar, and Unggoy all took a liking to raiding the newly terraformed worlds of humanity, though newly wasn't the right word. All the glassed planets fortunately still had atmosphere, allowing for terraformation to take place. Thankfully, though, the species were too stupid or self-absorbed to ally, and the Jiralhanae and Kig Yar often enslaved Unggoy to work for them. Of course, while grunts were good cannon fodder, they also were more than willing to give up information to be sent back to their planet. Many a raiding mission had been exposed due to the Unggoy. Though their promises of freedom usually ended with a bullet in the skull.

_Still, it's all those bastards deserve_. Harvest was now yet again a flourishing agri world. With a population of over 12 million, it was a small colony, but it had more now than ever before, due to the fact that the UEG needed more agri worlds and payed people well if they settled or moved to them.

The Captain cut off his thoughts, focusing on the job again. "The sweep picking anything up lieutenant?" he asked the navigation officer.

"Negative. We're about to clear wreckage sector four." The lieutenant, Parisa Bryant, was in standard duty uniform like everyone else on the bridge, however, she like many others had some non-regulation equipment on her. The Captain had allowed them to have some seeing as they were going to be patrolling for six months.

"Well, we know our job, keep looking." he told her. _When I got the rank of Captain, I didn't think this would be it_. It was horribly silent aboard the bridge. "Anybody got any requests for music?" He had asked before, so it came as no surprise to the crew.

"Dubstep, maybe?" said the comms officer, Morton Palmer.

"Get off of this ship." the Captain told him jokingly. It got a good laugh from everyone. "Well, if there are no suggestions, let's put on the second oldest kind of music. Harvest got any dubstep stations?"

"Yeah, I think- Wait, hold one." Palmer put two of his fingers to his earpiece. "Sir, I'm receiving a message from the Tiara. Patching it through.

The _Captain_ of the Tiara, as it were, appeared on the centre viewscreen. "This is Delphi Groombridge. Captain Dalton, a Prowler just arrived in system, and they want your one to dock with the Tiara to give you, quote "_Something very special._ Don't know what it means, but it was issued by Admiral Traviss. I'd get to it. And don't worry about patrol, I'm sure Harvest can go an hour or so. Groombridge out."

"Bryant, you heard the man. Get us back to the Tiara. ETA on when we dock?" Parisa typed the coordinates onto her console and after a moment informed him that it would be 10 minutes at maximum safe speed. "Let's get on our way then. Punch it."

* * *

**Epsilon Erdi**

**Harvest Orbit**

**Tiara Orbital Tether Station**

They had now docked with the Tiara, and the Captain Dalton was walking through the docking tube. He met up with two of the Tiara's security officers who led him through the station, through crowds of people being ferried on and off, and through the large rooms full of cargo waiting to be sent off or brought on. It vaguely reminded him of the scene at the end of one of the Indiana Jones films. They were old, but they were still classics.

Finally they reached the entrance to the other Prowler, and the two security guards left. The Captain pressed his index finger to his ear and activated the earpiece. "This is Captain Dalton to Admiral Traviss, do I have permission to enter Prowler?"

"Yes you do. Come aboard." a gruff sounding voice told him. The door in front of him opened. "Remember to wipe your feet, son." the Admiral reminded him. Dalton walked aboard, and unlike most ONI ships, it didn't have two agents waiting for him. _Odd_. He walked through to where the bridge was, after all, his and this ship were essentially the same. Eventually he reached it, and he found the Admiral on his own.

Dalton saluted. "Sir! Captain Dalton reporting as requested."

"At ease." The Captain let his arms fall behind his back. The Admiral kept staring out of the window. The window was pointed at harvest. "Agri worlds. Backbone of the colonies. UNSC wanted to turn Harvest into a fortress world twenty years back. UEG wouldn't have it." The Admiral let out a sigh, and turned to Dalton. "But, I suppose you don't want to hear me ramble on about politics. You're being reassigned. You will be taking this Prowler along with its crew and yours. You're to head to an glassed colony that is still habitable. This ship is to protect it for a six month shift, and after, you will be relieved. Any questions?"

"Yes, two sir. First off, how is it _still_ habitable, and second, why do we need a new Prowler?"

"To answer the first, was hit by the Covenant early in the war, when the UNSC didn't realise a colony, only evac it, so they stayed and fought. The planet was glassed mid battle, but they missed on city and orbital tether in the firefight in space. To answer the second, is that your Prowler is somewhat underpowered, and it is under ONI's control. I called in a personal favour to have this one under UNSC command. Well, if that is all, I have business to attend to. Captain." The two saluted each other, and the Admiral left. _Now all that's left is to wait for the crew_.

* * *

**Epsilon Erdi**

**Harvest Orbit**

**UNSC Icarus**

The crews of both ships were aboard now. The new ship, _Icarus_, was far better than the _Deus Ex._ Unlike the other ship, _Icarus_ had full sensory and visual stealth, 12 human pulse laser turrets, two Shiva nuclear missiles, and 26 HORNET nuclear stealth mines. It also had _POA_ class engines, named after the infamous engines of the Halcyon class Pillar of Autumn. The _Icarus_ also had shields, but they were only light class. _Oh well, who needs shields when you can't be seen?_

Even with the new crew, there was still just only over 40 people on the crew, and another 36 newly transferred marines. It was the 14 that weren't crew that were interesting. There were six ODSTs aboard, and for that reason _Icarus_ had also been given six drop pods.

There were also four Spartan IVs, and the ship now had four Spartan Armour Assembly Stations, or SSASs for short. The next three were pilots. He didn't know why they needed three pilots until he realised that two were for the Prowler's two stealth Pelicans, and there was a third who could pilot a Sabre. As it turned out, the Sabre had been installed on the underside and was camouflaged to look like part of the Prowler. The pilot could then enter from inside the ship.

And the fourteenth was the Captains favourite. He had been given a Huragok

All in all, _Icarus _was not only a stealth vessel, but a true warship. It could probably take on a Covenant destroyer, but he wasn't feeling up for that kind of test.

"Alright, Bryant, where's the colony and how long 'till we get there?" Dalton had informed them of their mission earlier.

Parisa typed in coordinates and equations. "The colony, New Tokyo, is all the way on the edge of UNSC controlled space, other side of the Orion arm. It's about 10,000 light years." _Wow._ "I'd say a five day journey by slipspace."

"Well, disengage from the Tiara, get us out of the gravity well, and we'll be on our way. Palmer, send word to the Captain of the Tiara, tell him we're leaving." Them and the other people on the bridge rushed to their stations, doing various things here and there. _It's good to finally be doing something worthwhile again, even if there isn't any combat_.

A voice materialised from nowhere. "Captain Dalton, may I introduce myself. I am a seventh generation smart AI, and my name is Cynthia. If you need anything, please do tell."

"Good. An AI is always essential. How's the ship doing?" he asked her.

"The ship is top notch, though as always, the Huragok is trying to find ways to make it better. If you ever do meet him, by the way, his name is Ned."

"Ned?"

"Short for Needs More Buoyancy. Good name right? Well, I can see you're busy, so I'll leave you be."

"Very well. Bryant, I'm going to attend to some business. You have the bridge." He told her.

"Aye sir, I have the bridge." He stood up from his command chair and left the bridge, heading for the hangar bay. He took the elevator that ran from the top of the ship to the bottom, and upon arriving at the hangar, saw a group of people crowded around something. They were cheering, so he decided to take a look at what was going on. He made his way to the group, past Warthogs and the Pelican, and made his way to the front.

Upon arrival, he saw what was going on. Two extremely tall women, who were both lean and muscular, were having an arm wrestle. Obviously, Spartans. One of them looked up and noticed the Captain. "Officer on deck!" Apparently everyone he moved by hadn't noticed him, and they now all snapped a salute. Including the Spartan who hadn't addressed his presence. The other however, took the opportunity and slammed the other woman's hand down, using her victory hand to salute instantly after.

"Ha. At ease. It appears our Spartan here has initiative. I'd like to see who wins in pure strength though." He shifted his stance so it was more relaxed. "Commence."

One of the observers spoke up as the Spartans began again. "Captain, care to place a bet on who wins?"

"Well, as the CO I really shouldn't, but, if I hypothetically weren't your CO, I would guess the clever one."

After about five minutes, he was proven correct. The clever one finally slammed the others hand on the table. "Hell yeah, who's the best? I am!" _And here I thought Spartans were all noble and modest_. She turned to the Captain, and, oddly enough, did a bow. "Jane Shepard, official ship badass, at your service."

"Well, let's hope I only ever need your services as a Spartan then. And you might be?" he asked, addressing the other Spartan.

"Rachel Hughes, sir."

"I see. Well, all of you may as well do some stuff like this and get to know each other better, it'll be awhile before anything happens." Dalton walked off from the group.

The Captain often let people have fun like this on patrols. They weren't necessary most of the time, and they couldn't spend all day training. So he was relatively lax in terms of their activities. But he still ran a tight shift. And this was a Prowler, so his people who monitored the communications, which there was always at least five of, always had their head on, because they knew the job was important.

The Captain decided to get himself some coffee. He went back to the elevator and waited for it to arrive. Despite it being the smallest ship the UNSC had, it still took a long time to get anywhere on it. He finally arrived at the mess hall, and went to the coffee machine. Something didn't look right about it. He got a mug and made some black coffee. He took a sip, and oddly enough, it tasted fantastic. "Cynthia. Why does this coffee taste good?" He didn't look anywhere because he knew the AI watched everyone always. She popped up on one of the many holo tanks all around the ship.

"I believe that Ned overheard someone complain about the coffee and he "fixed" the machine." she informed him.

"I thought Huragok didn't know Human languages."

"Well, they can learn to write them with ease if it is written, but we also gave them a neural interface to tinker with and one managed to make an automatic translation program."

"Thats all, thank you."

"My pleasure, Captain." Cynthia's hologram shut off. _Well, I'd better head off and write a report or something. Look busy._

* * *

**In SlipSpace**

**UNSC Icarus **

**Hangar Bay**

"All right. Round two. Beginning in five... four... three... two... one. Round begin." Cynthia's voice was loud over the speaker.

Jane moved forward and instantly dodged a punch from Rachel by ducking underneath her arm while also kicking out at the other Spartan with them, Brian. He was hit full on in the stomach, and Jane quickly turned and delivered a series of quick jabs to Rachel's back. Brian had however, recovered, and managed to choke hold Jane. She tried to wrestle out of the grip, but he was much stronger than she was.

Rachel now turned and got a blow on Jane's stomach, then another quick hit in succession. Jane saw what was happening and formulated a strategy. She used all of her strength to kick Brian's knee, which buckled, and Jane's next hit got him in his side.

He let go from the pain, and in the second he let go, Jane turned to him and delivered a swift kick, sending him off of the ring.

Rachel had also come up with her own plan. As Jane kicked Brian, Rachel kicked in Jane's other leg, causing her to collapse to her elbows. Rachel then jumped down and pinned Jane to the ground.

"Say uncle." Jane told Rachel.

She was struggling to contain Jane. "I'll be honest and say that's not how it works."

At that moment, Jane chose to enact a well thought out plan. Her legs were pinned by Rachels, and in such a way that they couldn't be moved. Her knee was the one exception. She delivered a less than chivalrous knee to Rachel's more sensitive part of her body. The impact wouldn't have hurt her, but it was more surprise than anything. Rachel's body froze up for a split second, enough time for Jane to disengage from her lock and reverse it, and also manage to begin choking the other Spartan.

"Now, how about uncle?" Jane asked.

Through Rachel's struggling breathing she heard "Yeah."

"What was that? I didn't hear uncle." Jane was just taunting by now.

"Uncle!" Jane let go of her, and Rachel let in a big breath of air. "Damn, twice in a row. Rematch?"

"Sorry Rachel, but I got stuff to do. Brian, you okay?"

The other Spartan was sitting on a chair outside the ring, surrounded by marines having the time of their lives. "Yeah, thanks for asking. Glad I got out actually, so you couldn't deliver a kick to my nuts like you did Rachel."

"Wait, that chick has nuts? Glad I didn't go to be a Spartan." It was one of the female marines, and all the marines laughed of course. Despite that any hardened and suitable veteran could apply and train to be a Spartan, there was still that old interservice rivalry, that was more of taunting banter than actual hostility.

"I'm sure two is enough for you, Corporal. Who knows what you'd need four for." Rachel retaliated in an innocent way.

The marines gave a collective "ooohh" and one said to the corporal "Hey, you gonna take that, or you gonna beat the crap out of her?"

"I think I'm gonna beat the crap out of her. For science, of course." the Corporal stated.

"Aww, look at the little marine, here to prove her worth to her peers." Rachel said in a mocking tone. "Is she gonna cry?"

"We'll see." She climbed up to the ring. "But none of those bone breaking things. I'm not a ton of unbreakable bone like you."

"Alright. Jane, off the ring." It almost sounded like an order, but she did. This was to be an interesting fight.

Cynthia's voice sounded over speakers again. "Round three, in five... four... three... two... one. Round begin."

The Corporal ran straight to Rachel, and Rachel instantly went for a punch, though Shepard could see it wasn't as hard it it normally was. Instead of catching the marine off guard though, the marine anticipated the action, and ducked under just like Jane had.

Then she did something no one expected. She tackled and pushed Rachel into the ground while Rachel was midstep, and got and struggled to contain Rachel in a hold.

"Uncle?" the young Corporal asked her.

"Not when you're about to lose." Rachel used a partially free leg to try to kick the marine, but it had been a trap. The marine grabbed the leg with hers and twisted, locking them in like that and obviously putting herself at extreme discomfort. Rachel was only using a quarter of her strength like Jane had told her too, in case of injury to the marine. "Alright, uncle."

Instantly their two bodies relaxed, the marine let out a moan, obviously from relieving her leg of the pressure. Jane went to the edge of the ring. "Not bad Corporal, taking out a Spartan."

"Well, it wasn't that impressive. She handicapped herself." Rachel shifted the Corporals weakened body from herself, stood up, and pulled the marine up by her hand. "Thanks." She turned to the marines. "Oorah marines, that's how we do it." A chorus of oorahs came back to her.

"That was impressive. I'll make sure you're the one getting my back. Not many people can beat a Spartan at any level." Brian said to the marine. "What's your name?"

"Tracy Corfield. Tracy's just what people call me though."

"Well," Rachel began, "All us Spartans have work to do. See you around marine. She and Brian walked off to the armory. Normally people would have taken a shower after a fight, but the Spartans hadn't broken a sweat.

Jane looked to Tracy. "Marine, I'm going to put my armour on and go through some drills. Can you spare some time?"

"Sure." Tracy looked back to the marines. "See you guys later." They just acknowledged her and continued talking amongst themselves. Jane and Tracy headed to an SAAS.

"So Spartan, you got a name?" Tracy asked Jane.

"Yeah. I'm Jane Shepard. I prefer that non-Spartans call me lieutenant or Shepard though."

"Alright. I can dig it. So, do you know how long it'll be till we arrive?" They walked past a group of techies looking at a Pelican.

"Yeah. Five days. Then once we're there, we patrol planetside and in orbit. I can't say it'll be fun, but it's our job." Jane always like to stay atop the mission details.

"Yeah. When I joined I was hoping for some more action, but I guess we don't all get what we want. So, why'd you need me, a humble marine, to help with the mighty MJOLNIR?"

"Well, the suit assembles around me, but someone needs to man the console to make sure the suit calibrates right. I'll give you a quick run through." They finally reached the SAAS, which was in an alcove near the back of the hangar bay. A machine scanned Jane's retina and fingerprints, and the door opened to let them in.

"All right. The suit needs to be precisely calibrated. So once I'm on this pad, I need you to make sure the suit goes on right. I'll give you a quick run through." Jane showed Tracy the layout and how everything happened. Tracy was not only surprised by the complexity of the armour configuration, but the fact that the console was easy to operate. _I guess they need it to be in case there aren't many people and they need a crash course_ she thought to herself.

"Alright, here comes the awkward part. Look away if you want, I really don't care." The Spartan began removing her clothing, and Tracy did decide to look away. _Maybe if we weren't "friends" in the loosest sense of the word. She seems okay, and it's a little awkward with Humanities best. _Tracy was used to seeing naked people. She was an adult, and in the military, she was used to seeing it. But something about the other woman being a Spartan.

"You can look now." Tracy turned around to see the Spartan with her matte black titanium body suit. How they made a flexible titanium, nobody knew. "So, do I look or, or good?"

"I'm gonna have to go with... the first one. So, time for the armour?"

"Yeah. Prepare to be astounded, bedazzled, and absolutely stupefied!" Jane said it in an old Victorian-Era voice.

She stepped into the middle of a marked square, and Tracy told the console to begin. In front of Jane, the floor opened up, and the boots of the armour appeared before her, and the various pieces of leg armour around her. Above them, the ceiling opened up to reveal multiple robotic arms holding different bits of armour too. Jane stepped into the boots, and the fronts expanded to let her feet in before enclosing around them. Amazingly, Jane managed to stay completely still. Behind her, rear leg armour formed on the back of her legs, and from in front, more armour rose and began to be attached. Then a large group of smaller robotic arms rose from the floor and began to lock everything in place, with more and more of the arms appearing to place pelvic armour and the midriff, and lower back.

Now came the best part. Two large tubes appeared, each filled with armour and robotic hands, and a gauntlet at the front of each. The Spartan put her hands into the gauntlets, and the arms began attaching them on. Then more cylinder tubes appeared from the original ones, and constructed all of the arm armour up to her shoulders. Meanwhile, large black exoskeletons were fitted on, attaching themselves completely, and then, two massive arms slammed so fast into the Spartan, one at the front and one at the back, with massive pieces of armour, that Tracy thought she had done something wrong and killed a Spartan. Luckily, she was wrong. The armour just stopped instantaneously once it hit her body, and the two pieces joined to create the iconic Spartan torso piece. Then, more arms appeared and began to attach things to the armour, more armour, thruster packs, auxiliary units, and as it turned out, Jane had requested a small minigun to be attached to her right shoulder. The armour was finally done besides the helmet, and the helmet lowered onto her head, and sealed on with a hiss.

"Wow." It was all Tracy could muster.

"We're not done yet. One seco-" Jane made a noise something like "oof!" then the machine let her go, and her arms fell to her sides, as they had been outstretched before. The arms returned back to the ceiling and floor, and both openings closed.

"What was that final bit?" Tracy asked her. She had no clue.

"Well, sometimes I need to go to the toilet on the field, and as you can see, the armour is somewhat sealed on. So, the suit needs to plug into a few places so I can... go. As it were." There was a bit of embarassment in her voice.

"Are those places what I think I'm thinking?"

"Well, I would hope you were only thinking about those places in the context of this situation, but, yes. Those are the places you're thinking of."

"Gross. So, what can you tell me about it? The infamous Mark VII MJOLNIR." Tracy was quite interested in tech.

"Well, I can do everything Mark VI can do, but it has new features, like it has de-insertion from SlipSpace capabilities. It can enter a planet from orbit and survive. I can shape the energy shielding. It has a badass new power system. And it has active AI transfer protocols. Plus, it's more lightweight, has a new power plant that is more effective, and has built in jetpack thrusters, zero G maneuver thrusters, and thrusters in the boots souls. So if you ever want to be a real badass, just be a Spartan. Though it might take a while."

"Well, I don't see why ODSTs hate you guys. Why do you have a minigun?" Tracy wondered what kind of missions the Spartan went on if she needed a minigun.

"Often I'm stuck without support, so having this on my shoulder is all the support I need whenever I need it. Come on, let's go drill, or something. I've never been on patrol. You?"

"Nah. Let's go find someone who has, they'll know how to keep busy."

* * *

**Right, well, this is a second FanFic I'm attempting. I'm also doing one about the Rookie, so I'll try to do two chapters on one before two chapters on the next, so on, so forth. That is, unless you guys prefer one of the two stories and I will concentrate on one over the other, though I would still attend to both.**

**So as for future content of the story, well this chapter was just an intro to the UNSC characters. The next will be one for the ME characters. And if you're wondering, the UNSC won't completely destroy in space, though due to their nature, they will have advantages on the field, with a few serious misgivings. **

**As to the armour assembly thing, I combined the scene from the first Iron Man film and a section of Halo: Glasslands to simulate armour assembly. As for the minigun... well, it's just badass.**

'**Till next time.**

**Edit: So yeah, I'm just going to make the second chapter about the UNSC mainly, and introduce ME characters as the story goes along. It's hard for me to right whole chapters in their perspectives, don't know why.**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, Mass Effect, Indiana Jones, or Iron Man**


End file.
